Liara can't be one of the deaths in ME2. Liara is only briefly on Illium and later in Shadow Broker but you can't get her killed. I assume you mean Morinth or Samara.

If you wait more than 1 missions some people will die, and wait more then 3 or 4 and your whole crew dies. Generally, deaths only occur when you haven't done the loyalty mission for them. However, if you bring your toughest characters into the end boss you end up weakening the average strength of those remaining in the line and so you can lose characters that way. Using wrong characters for specific tasks also can result in deaths.

Furthermore - Miranda, Morinth/Samara and Mordin play varying importance roles in ME3. Mordin has a reasonably large role, Miranda a smaller role, Samara less and Morinth even less. Losing them won't affect the story as such, but will limit options at certain points.

You can chose to not import a character to ME3, and live with the default settings.

Well, just started playing dirt 3. Got to say, I'm pretty impressed so far. Cars handle differently on different surfaces, big variation in race types and best of all, the co driver in rally is really good! No need to check the map on new tracks, just do what his notes tell you!

_________________There is no theory of evolution, just a list of animals that Chuck Norris allows to live.

Just gave my 360 it's weekly towel wrap to keep the thing running after constant failed X-clamp fixes *Sigh*, i was just playing ME3 and the thing Rrod'd again and lost a lot of my progress, so i guess it's time to dust off my wallet and buy a new one.

for starters the movement seems sharper (when shooting, its a little more sensitive then the previous version i thought

the hiding behind things is still bloody irritating, especially in the early mars mission, when that gun is shooting at you and your character stands up instead of hiding

also, there are so many hidden missions/people to look out for. When going to the citadel, if you walk near these short fat aliens, they talk about a mission, which we would otherwise have overlooked! its a trickier game, but at the moment i like it (one seems to pick up ammo a lot easier)

Single Race – Run through practice and qualify sessions to score the best time for your position on the grid. then race for the win.

Career Mode – Get more contract offers each season, the better you perform, the more the top teams will want you. Get the best position in qualifying sessions to start at the front in the race. be at the top of the championship points table at the end of the season to become the Formula Micro GP Champion!

Special Features;* Dynamic tyre wear* Pit StopsIf your car is not handling as good as you would like, head into the pits to put a fresh set of tyres on.* KERS (Turbo)Hit the KERS button to get extra speed on the straights to get ahead of your opponents.* 8 Different tracks to race* 8 Cars to choose from* Practice Mode* Single Race Mode* Championship Mode* Live timing* Open feint leader boards

So I finally got around to Deus Ex Human Revolution. I brought it late last year but then Skyrim turned up and hoovered up all my game time for ages.

I havn't played the other games from the Deus Ex series and if this game is representative of the series I've missed a couple of properly good games.

I love the variable game play style. Depending on the situation and the mood you're in you can either sneak around or try and talk your way around people. Naturally you can just go in all guns blazing if that's your thing. The story so far is really well put together (i've just finshed the Chinese portion and am on my way to Montreal for those of you who know the game. )

Normally I'm a gameplay is far more important than pretty graphics sort of person. but Damn if this game isn't almost as pretty as it's gameplay is good.

8/10 so far and hoping it continues.

Anyone care to scomment on how it stacks up against the other games in the series?

I can't believe anyone would only think Deus Ex HR is an 8/10. That game was FANTASTIC.

One of the best games of the last few years. For my money, better than Skyrim (but not as good as Oblivion or Fallout 3 though - I rate them all similarly though).

I loved how you could talk your way out of things, sneak your way around them or blow them apart. I mostly played stealthy which is the games strongest function imo. I don't know if anyone played Alpha Protocol. Deus Ex is what AP should have been. AP was good, but Deus Ex blasts it out the water. AP has a more interactive story but the gameplay isn't anywhere near as good.

Plus extendo-blades from the arms kick donkey.

I haven't played the original. I had the second one, but it tiddled me off due to accidentally screwing something up after an hour and a bit and realising the game hadn't saved at all. Okay, my fault really but it annoyed the hell out of me.

Picked up Dragon's Dogma the other day and working my way through it at the moment.

There is a demo on Marketplace (Xbox 360) which gives you a taster of the combat engine the game uses and a chance to fight a massive chimera as well. Encounters with these "boss" enemies happen frequently in the full game - you can't just wade in swinging at them you need to work with your companions (up to three can accompany you).

The companions you choose (referred to as pawns) can be recruited from other players - you get one early on and you get to create one of your own. Other pawns wander around the game world as well and can be recruited anytime you want - or you can use a 'rift stone' and enter a rift and search for pawns other players have created.

Where this gets cool is someone else can use your pawn and when rest at an inn, and quest and fighting experience they've gained will be retained! This is also true of items they collect themselves (the pawns don't just blindly follow you - they will gather herbs and loot things as well).

As with any RPG, there are abilities to upgrade and select as well as the usual collection of armours and weapons (including upgrades).

The 360 version has a screenshot share facility as well which can post to twitter and facebook.

Ghost Recon: Future SoilderBeen waiting for this game for 3 years now, had it preordered and I'm honestly disappointed a bit by it The main campain is awesome, highly improved graphics from the past 2 GRAW instalements and a much wider veriety of levels and environments, which can also be played in co-op. That being said, the game has crashed on me about 6 times in under a week! The occational crash I can cope with, but when its obviously something wrong with the programming it's a bit annoying.

Multiplayer is a lot faster moving now, and all the skills you learned from the previous ghost recon games and from single player are almost useless as they've made it a lot less tactical and more CODish than before. This isn't my personal preference as I used to like the way the original GRAW games were different to your average FPS and if wanted that I would play a different game.

The other major difference is that they have fully got rid of the specific online co-op modes, which was the main reason I enjoyed the last 2 games so much. I wasn't alone here, there was always as many people playing co-op as there was playing team or solo game types but Ubisoft have decided to ignore this particular fan base entirely.

Playing online is also incredibly frustrating as the game doesn't use the main Uplay server to host games but players machine. So half the games I've played so far have sufferedfrom apauling lag and have had host migration on an high percentage of games too, which unlike COD doesn't restart from where the migration took place but resets players back to their spawn point (really annoying if you're lining up a shot or in the middle of an objective)

You can heavily customize guns, changing every part from muzzle type to gas system and ammo type. Really good feature which does make a difference to how the guns react. Different gun parts need to be unlocked in both single player and multiplayer, which is where I have an issue! I've spent a fair few hours unlocking weapon parts during the main campaign, but cannot transfer them to multiplayer as they need to be unlocked during multiplayer. I can't understand why game developers separate multiplayer and single player games like this. Firstly they must assume people buy games just for either single player or for multiplayer. Secondly, it is hard unlocking the gun parts in campaign (judging by the very low percentage of people who have unlocked them) but in multiplayer it be done by just grinding, so it atnds to reason that when you start playing multiplayer others will have better guns than you, making it more frustrating leveling up yourself. Really, all I want is a benifit of playing single player to transfer over to multiplayer, they did that in BF3 to an extent and I think it adds a lot to the game, including higher replay valueand added benifits to playing all different game modes.

Having had my big moan there, it is an amzing game, just a shame they seem to have gone in a COD/BF directionwith the mulitplayer rather than sticking to the original format format which is what made it different to every other shooter out there. Hopefully Ubisoft will sort out the bugs quickly and most of my moans will be meaningless!

EDIT: should've said, I've got it on Xbox, dont know how the PS3 or PC versions are for bugs and the like.

_________________There is no theory of evolution, just a list of animals that Chuck Norris allows to live.

I bought Max Payne 3 on release day and am transfixed by it. Absolutely amazing game....

I have large reservations about it. GTA IV and Read Dead were both R* games (development wise as well as publishing) and well everyone really liked them, I find them both stupidly boring. So I'm worred the same trend will continue with Max Payne 3, though, as always, I will eventually give it a try.

I've been playing Mafia 2 on the 360 today. It's quite an old game, I got the GotY type edition (the one with the DLC included) really cheap ages ago and am now just getting to play it.

Great game. I like crime games when they aren't just about drugs. That, slightly bizarrely I know, is why I've not been a fan of the more recent Grand Theft Auto games. If you like GTA style games, this is just a 1940s and '50s game of that ilk. I'm even really enjoying the characters storylines. I'm about a 3rd through it I think and I must say, great fun.

Now playing dDivinity 2: Drakon Knight Saga. Enjoying it a lot, though still seem to be struggling a fair bit with getting my character set up in a way that makes her good. Decided to clear out all the RPGs in my backlog of games... I do love a good RPG.

I've got lots of new games recently. Been playing Uncharted: Golden Abyss recently, and it's fantastic. A handheld game on the PS Vita, but it's not a short game. There are 34 chapters of which it's taken me 3 weeks to do 25 of.I went and bought the Ps3 trilogy, but have only briefly played Drake's Fortune. 6 weeks of holiday from Friday though.

Sweet. I had Dark Alliance on the Gamecube and Dark Alliance 2 on the xbox. Haven't played any of the previous incarnations. I really enjoyed them both though. I also liked the drop in-drop out co-op play that you could have. I did most of the GC game as a co-op experience, I always went the archer type character, who became ridiculously over-powered in late game, especially against mobs of enemies. Strangely, i played DA2 a good long time after DA, but have almost no memories of it. I think because I didn't do it in co-op it was slightly less fun and so time has eroded it somewhat.

Anyway, I'm currently playing Harry Potter 7 - Part 1 videogame on the 360. It's pretty odd. I expected it to be like every HP game since Chamber of Secrets (that I've played). It's not. It's almost like Gears of War but with spells. Seriously, it's 3rd person and all you really do, so far, is fire off spell after spell after spell on the right trigger, and sometime chuck a potion which is, in essence, a grenade. Having fun with it. I know it's geeky as hell, but the Harry Potter games have usually been pretty good fun.

I'm also gonna start on of my many RPGs that I bought but haven't played yet. Not sure which yet though. Divinity was good enough to get me in the mood again, despite it's flaws.

Are there any decent current gen JRPGs still around? Something like Lost Odyssey or the old school Final Fantasies? FFXIII kinda disappointed me and I feel a bit too old for titles like Blue Dragon or Tales Of Vesperia.

_________________“I'm happy, but there's nothing to jump around about.”

Assuming 360, there is Enchanted Arms. It's a little basic, but it's also very good. It isn't that long and a lot of people find it to be... not great.

Faery: Legends of Avalon (XBLA) is okay, though it's short.

I liked FFXIII and adore it's sequel.

It's not really FF like, but Resonance of Fate is one of the finer RPGs on the system. I absolutely loved the game.

Star Ocean: TLH is an enjoyable game, though doesn't really fit into your specific criteria (the FF style). It's a bit like that but in a real time setting. To be honest, I'd recommend Infinite Undiscovery long before SO.

Lastly, The Last Remnant. It's a flawed game, deeply flawed. Battles take an age to load, you can be unfairly punished 40 minutes through a 45 minute survival and the PC version, so I've heard, is better. That said, TLR is one of the best stories on the Xbox. If you get used to the gameplay and start truly manipulating it to your advantage then the tactical aspect becomes very interesting. It's good value for money and is somewhat related to the FF style of gameplay while also being unique.

That's all I can think of that are RPGs and kind of fit into the FF type games. Even though some of them really don't. The only ones really like FF of old are Lost Odyssey, Faery, Blue Dragon, Enchanted Arms. The style of game seems to be dying out, which is a pity.

Assuming 360, there is Enchanted Arms. It's a little basic, but it's also very good. It isn't that long and a lot of people find it to be... not great.

Faery: Legends of Avalon (XBLA) is okay, though it's short.

I liked FFXIII and adore it's sequel.

It's not really FF like, but Resonance of Fate is one of the finer RPGs on the system. I absolutely loved the game.

Star Ocean: TLH is an enjoyable game, though doesn't really fit into your specific criteria (the FF style). It's a bit like that but in a real time setting. To be honest, I'd recommend Infinite Undiscovery long before SO.

Lastly, The Last Remnant. It's a flawed game, deeply flawed. Battles take an age to load, you can be unfairly punished 40 minutes through a 45 minute survival and the PC version, so I've heard, is better. That said, TLR is one of the best stories on the Xbox. If you get used to the gameplay and start truly manipulating it to your advantage then the tactical aspect becomes very interesting. It's good value for money and is somewhat related to the FF style of gameplay while also being unique.

That's all I can think of that are RPGs and kind of fit into the FF type games. Even though some of them really don't. The only ones really like FF of old are Lost Odyssey, Faery, Blue Dragon, Enchanted Arms. The style of game seems to be dying out, which is a pity.

Yeah I have a 360. Guess I need to check out Enchanted Arms then. I noticed TLR and ROF when they came out but wasn't as interested of them at the time.

I don't know why I didn't like FFXIII that much. I preordered the collector's edition which was the first time I bought a new Final Fantasy game since FFX on PS2. I kinda gave up on the series when FFX-2 came out. To me FFX represents the last of the more old school FF games, even though there were already some big changes in comparison to IX. But about FFXIII, somehow it didn't have the magic that Lost Odyssey had. Maybe it's just the old school mechanics or Uematsu's music that appealed to me more, I don't know. XIII had a nice and innovative battle system and good character design but the character management system I didn't like that much and the game was somehow too bright and aesthetic for my taste. I hope Mistwalker would make a successor to Lost Odyssey.

Maybe I need to get PS2 again. I guess there's more JRPG games for it? I'm currently having a re-run on FFVII and it made me realize how much I missed these kind of games.

_________________“I'm happy, but there's nothing to jump around about.”

I heard FFX-HD will come out on PSN at some point, I definitely enjoyed it on PS2.

I'd kill for that to come out on Xbox too. That is a brilliant game. I hated some bits (Chocobo racing for Celestial weapons etc) but it is an absolute gem. Defeating Penance was just boring though (I have a pride thing where I have to do the FF secret end bosses from hell type enemies). If you survived round 1 you knew you'd last until his pattern changed, then if you survived that you knew you'd win the whole battle. Took me 2 hours give or take, and was about as fast as is realistically possible I believe.

Th e Steam summer sale included LA Noire at a knock down price so i brought it as it's one of those games that i kept meaning to get around to playing. Now that I have it I can say I would geniunly have been happy to pay full price for it. It's a go a nice bit of originality to it. There is a bit of standard first person shooter to it just to keep things alive. Well done Rockstar for the originality.

Just looking at the driver line up for the new NASCAR car game (link)and saw JV wasn't in it! Montoya and Speed are there but they both race in the sprint cup series, where as JV races in the NASCAR nationwide series. What I don't know is firstly if the game was exclusively sprint cup series and secondly, what the difference is between them?

Also, can't find anywhere if there is going to be a EU release for the game, anyone help?

_________________There is no theory of evolution, just a list of animals that Chuck Norris allows to live.

Also, can't find anywhere if there is going to be a EU release for the game, anyone help?

I may be utterly mistaken, but I think they only came out in the USA but were intentionally not region locked to allow import copies to run. Not sure though, but I read that about a game a while back and NASCAR springs to mind as the one it was.

I actually started it in 2009 but recently came back to it. It's enjoyable enough, though I do feel it is very slow. I've played FF8, 10 and Lost Odyssey in the very recent past, and it is slower than any of them by a good margin. I prefer games where you can somewhat stack commands while the animation for a previous command is running. This doesn't and it makes battles quite slow. Still, another game off my backlog (be done by the weekend I expect).

I did the same thing and bought loads of old xbox games for £1 - £3 AT GAME andot Blue Dragon with them all. I like turn based fighting as it gives more strategy to battles (like the Advance Wars games on the gameboy advanced and DS) than you get with giving commands in real time which is more reaction and quick decision, but agree that the game play really is slow in this game and could do with being sped up a little. You need to set aside a few hours to give the game a decent go each session you play. I'm up to 14 hours play time now and I don't think even half way through the first disc!

_________________There is no theory of evolution, just a list of animals that Chuck Norris allows to live.

FFX had a system like this one, where it showed you the turn order, but was done better by one vital inclusion - it showed the enemy turns repeated if they are faster than you so attack more than once per cycle. For instance, I was fighting an end-game optional boss, and I had braced for a single attack. Enemy attacked then switched to second in the queue, so I had one move to make up for it. Plus, I wanted to charge my magic so it ended up two in a row. If it had told me this, I could have dealt.

Also, 14 hours in, you are probably near the end of disk 1. It's not that long. Like most JRPGs, the length is in people maxing characters and skills rather than storyline length as such. It's a fairly decent game, but at this point I kinda just want rid of it.

Tonight, I'll be playing ME3's new Leviathan DLC pack. Came out yesterday but somehow I missed it. Looking forward to it.

Anyway, been playing Trine and Bastion on XBLA. Trine was boring SP but good fun when my mate was round to play too. Bastion was hailed as some gem of gaming when it came out last summer. Frankly, I don't see it. It was a pretty boring game to play and the story did nothing for me. Frankly, I'd probably rather have saved the few £ it cost me.

The F1 2012 demo is pretty bad IMO. The steering wheel is like in F1 2010, where it would only go a certain amount in the direction you want it to. I beat the hard AI on legendary difficulty by 10 seconds in the 5-lap race at Monza on my 3rd attempt. That's just awful IMO. I also don't like the way the AI defends. Lewis went defensive well before I caught him on the front straight, as if he was defending air. And sometimes he didn't defend at all. Also, the AI is not much better at passing. They still get stuck behind me or give up too easily when I defend.

And the AI cars sound like 2-bit bullshit. I hope that's just because this is the demo and the actual game will have better sounds.

I'm not buying this game until WAY after it comes out, if at all. I'm definitely getting FIFA 13, though. I liked the demo, but I can't play as just the striker/defender/etc. in it, but that's fine.

Plus I think I will finally get GT5. I stayed away from it since the beginning because I thought it wouldn't be all that different from previous versions (except for graphics, # of cars, etc.) but all the support it has had, and will have, is the main reason to buy it now. It's only going to get better and better.

_________________"No, there is no terrible way to win. There is only winning."Jean-Pierre Sarti

I don't have a wheel, if I'm getting a wheel, I want the best one. However, the best one is too expensive for me. That being said, is F1 2012 worth getting? I like the handling (people said 2012 is developed around controllers, good for me ) I like the braking in 2011 but not so sure about 2012. Anyone played the demo with a controller? Your thoughts? Will you be getting it?

Anyone getting the Borderlands 2? I'm really excited about that one since I love the first game. I'll get my hands on it as soon my mate and I have completed co-op in the first game.

You basically mirror my thoughts exactly! I'm even still doing it as the current co-op game of choice with my mate. Borderlands was great, but I expect this will be like Assassin's Creed going to Assassin's Creed 2. All the little flaws will have been brought to light and as a result, I expect the game to be greatly improved. I really like Borderlands, despite the Underdome DLC being hideous, the rest of the game was great. It was the perfect mix of serious and weird cooky stuff going on to satisfy me.

I might wait for the GotY edition with all the DLC packs though, I do have a helluva backlog.

Plus, after Borderlands co-op we have like 6 other games in our pile currently. Some good, some crap but all a good laugh. Couch co-op is something I hope never dies.

Anyone getting the Borderlands 2? I'm really excited about that one since I love the first game. I'll get my hands on it as soon my mate and I have completed co-op in the first game.

You basically mirror my thoughts exactly! I'm even still doing it as the current co-op game of choice with my mate. Borderlands was great, but I expect this will be like Assassin's Creed going to Assassin's Creed 2. All the little flaws will have been brought to light and as a result, I expect the game to be greatly improved. I really like Borderlands, despite the Underdome DLC being hideous, the rest of the game was great. It was the perfect mix of serious and weird cooky stuff going on to satisfy me.

I might wait for the GotY edition with all the DLC packs though, I do have a helluva backlog.

Plus, after Borderlands co-op we have like 6 other games in our pile currently. Some good, some crap but all a good laugh. Couch co-op is something I hope never dies.

I hear ya! I have the GOTY edition but haven't yet started on the DLC's. Don't think I'll be able to wait for the GOTY edition of Borderlands 2 though! Couch co-op FTW!